The Pit
by thats-a-moray
Summary: Kain teaches Raziel and Turel the meaning of brotherly love. One-shot, swearing. Pre-SR1, post BO2? Edited: 2/5/13


_Nosgoth, 530 years after the birth of Kain  
In the dungeons of Kain's Retreat  
_

"Kain! Kaaain!"

"Shut up! He doesn't hear us." Raziel paced around the small pit. Try as he might to ignore his brother Turel's screams, the stone walls amplified and echoed his voice so that he seemed to shout from every direction at once.

"Kain! Please, father! Let us out! Please!"

Raziel covered his ears. His younger brother had been screaming for almost an hour with no result. Every time he tried to talk sense into him his good advice went ignored.

"Let us out! We need blood! _Please! _Please..." Walking in small circles, Turel grit his teeth. If he was still human he might have been on the verge of tears. Neither of them had any idea how long they had been trapped in this pit. Raziel tried to count off the hours by making carvings in the walls with a small sharp stone, until he lost it when Turel attacked him the first time. He then tried keeping track of time in his head. This inevitably failed, for Turel never gave him peace. A week or more might have passed since Kain threw them down here. The bottom of the pit was caked with the aftermath of their many fights. They could never be more than ten feet away from each other. They were miserable.

Desperate for silence, Raziel sat on the floor and put his head between his knees. Maybe if he ignored him Turel would give up.

"Lazy son of a whore!" Turel roared. He kicked the side of his face, knocking him over and sending a spurt of blood flying from his mouth. Spitting out a gob of blood and stumbling to his feet in a rage, he turned on his brother.

"This is _your_ fault! Pig-headed -" Raziel's eyes bulged. He ducked, narrowly avoiding Turel's fist. His knuckles crashed into the brick with an explosion of dust. The impact left behind a cannon ball sized crater.

"Skinny shit!" Turel snapped. He turned too fast on his heel and swung at Raziel, bruising his ribs.

Raziel scowled. Just like Turel to swing first and think later. Taking advantage of his brother's poor balance, Raziel struck him hard across the jaw, sending him reeling. His head smacked against the wall with a crack.

"Clod!"

Turel fell to one knee against the wall, gasping for breath. Raziel's face split in a grin, though he too breathed heavily. Their vampire bodies had no need for breath. Old habits die hard. They were both exhausted and their bodies only knew one way to cope. As Turel struggled to stand, Raziel felt sure of his victory. The older brother triumphant again. Turel's size and strength were still no match for his quick wits. He stumbled up, bowlegged. Their eyes locked like two bulls about to butt heads. Raziel fearlessly stared him down. The scratch of Turel's heavy breathing filled the pit like a saw-blade, muscles tensed. Raziel's bravado faltered. He knew that reckless look. "Turel..."

"Wise-assed prick!" Bricks cracked as his back slammed into the wall. The impact squeezed the air from his lungs with a splatter of blood. Raziel tore at him viciously, digging his fingernails into his back. He grabbed Turel by the head and jabbed his thumb into his eye until he released him. Turel retreated briefly, spurred on by rage, and grappled him. "I'll snap your neck!"

Raziel dug his heels into the hard ground, pushing back with all his might. "Stop being so stupid!"

"Burn in hell!"

Getting under him, Raziel jabbed his shoulder into Turel's gut and threw him to the ground. He retreated to the other side of the pit, leaving himself room to flee if necessary. Turel would not be pinning him again. Though he knew it was a useless endeavor, while Turel got to his feet, he tried again to reason with him. "This is pointless! We can't kill each other, so why are we fighting?"

Turel shook himself off and sneered. "You're not trying hard enough to kill me."

Raziel recoiled in disgust. He was so livid he could hardly speak. "You imbecilic, asinine...! If you would shut up and let me think!"

"Nobody's impressed by your clever tongue. That's why you're down here. You're entitled."

"And you're a dog licking your master's boots."

"At least it's honorable. I'd rather be a dog than a self-satisfied princess."

"This comes as no surprise," drawled Kain. Raziel and Turel looked up. Some twenty feet above them, their master stood at the top of the pit into which he had thrown them. The pit was sealed with steel bars. He looked extraordinarily displeased.

Kain's marble face took on a pale golden hue in the flickering torch light. As there were no lights at the bottom of the pit, his body seemed to glow. From below, the two brothers could see the handle of a sword mounted on Kain's back: the Soul Reaver. The sight of that infamous sword ordinarily brought fear into Raziel's heart. After his long and unjust confinement to this filthy hole, anger made him reckless.

"Master!" Turel exclaimed, relieved.

Raziel clenched his fists to the bone. "Let us out of here, Kain! This is humiliating!"

"Please, pay him no mind. He does not know his place."

"An ironic statement from _you_, little brother," growled Raziel.

"You're both right," Kain admonished icily. "Neither of you know your place. Since you're incapable of settling your dispute with words..." He produced a short sword. The light from the braziers gave the steel the qualities of fire. Raziel lost his swagger. Though Kain had been harsh with him on a few occasions, most recently by throwing him into a pit with his least favorite brother and leaving them to suffer in acrimonious hunger, he never expected what happened next. Holding it at the hilt, Kain dropped the sword into the pit where it stuck point first into the ground_. _At the bottom the air seemed to turn to ice. Raziel retreated a step. He looked at Kain in abject disbelief.

To his horror, Kain seemed pleased by the fear in his eyes. Kain, he knew, was over five hundred years old and a ruthless killer, whereas he and his brother, Turel, were merely fledglings, only thirty. They were Kain's sons, one day to be his lieutenants. As yet, they were too young to be of much use to him. Because they still retained much of their human appearance they made useful spies and assassins, leaving the grunt work of empire building to Kain and his stronger allies. Until this moment, Raziel had never experienced the magnitude of his maker's inhumanity. Even Turel hesitated. Raziel protested, too frightened to raise his voice, "You can't be serious."

"What I have made, I can also destroy, _child._ To the victor go the spoils."

His mouth fell open wordlessly. Never in his life had Kain treated him with this much callousness. And for what? A petty rivalry between brothers!? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Turel free the sword from the earth. "What are you doing? I am your brother!"

His younger brother narrowed his eyes. This time he met him with no animosity. "Sorry, Raziel. At least one of us will leave this pit."

They circled each other. The short sword extended Turel's reach, leaving Raziel with barely any room to maneuver. He ducked as the sword sliced into the wall, taking with it a few black hairs. Turel wrenched the blade free and slowly turned to face him. He spat on the ground. "You're trembling, brother. Where is your clever tongue now?"

Dust and debris fell into his eyes as the sword chopped into the brick above his head. He shook his head, blinded. Sharpened steel sliced through his side as he tried to escape. Clutching the wound, he beared his fangs and steeled his resolve. "If this is what you want..."

Turel raised his sword. As he brought it down Raziel quickly ducked to one side and grabbed Turel's sword arm with both hands. His jasmine eyes hardened as he twisted the bone and felt it crack. Turel screamed and tried to gouge his eyes. Shutting his eyes, Raziel elbowed him hard in the face, shattering his nose, and bore down on his arm with all his strength until the fingers sprang open and the sword clattered. He delivered another jab with his elbow, knocking Turel back and granting him a short window to grab the weapon of his salvation.

Before Turel could recover himself Raziel was on top of him. Armed and in tight quarters, his agility made him unstoppable against his lumbering brother. He soon had Turel backed against a wall with a blade at his throat. Turel grimaced pitifully at his brother, holding onto his broken arm defenselessly, face splattered with blood and dirt. After a few seconds Turel's eyes turned toward the opening of the pit. Raziel knew he was looking at Kain, pleading for his life with his eyes. He waited patiently for Kain to call him off. Kain started laughing. Bristling, Raziel backed away and hurled the sword into the air. The sword flew hilt over tip and embedded itself high in the wall of the pit. He faced Kain. "Keep your damn sword! I won't do this."

Kain had stopped laughing. He looked much angrier than Raziel expected, almost as if he had thrown the sword at him rather than the empty wall. "If that is your choice, then you will both starve!"

"What?" As Kain vanished from sight Raziel ran to the other side of the pit. "Kain!? Kain! You can't leave us here, Kain! _Kain!" _There was no response. He beat his fist against the wall and lowered his head in despair.

Behind him, Turel swallowed gratefully. "That was a good throw," he said bashfully.

Raziel choked. Somehow, he hoped, Kain would see his refusal to kill Turel as an admission of humility and release them. He would not have killed Turel in either case. Gasping shakily, he stared at the steel bars that bound them to this prison. "I don't understand. Why is he doing this to us?"

Turel shrugged with his good shoulder. "Test?" Raziel only closed his eyes. If this was some kind of test he did not know the solution. He heard Turel limping toward him. "Master made you first. Do you have any idea how hard the rest of us have to work to earn half the favor he gives you? If you ask me, the time you started pulling your weight is long over due. You're weak."

He faced him, shocked. "I just spared your life."

Again, Turel shrugged. He tried to pop the bones of his arm back into place with a flinch. "I would have pleaded on your behalf."

"Why?"

"Same reason you did."

Guiltily, he lowered his eyes. He had been foolish. Tearing the sleeve from his shirt, he used it to help his brother set his broken bones. "I'm sorry, Turel. I don't know how we got to this state."

"Cream puff."

Raziel glared at him. Turel chuckled and he shook his head. "Does he really intend to starve us?" Raziel asked, not expecting Turel to have an answer. His brother said nothing. Despite his faithfulness toward Kain, Raziel could see that hunger and strife had tempered his loyalty. He decided to change the subject. "If we get out of here, I'll be different from now on. I promise. I'll earn my keep." Though their relationship was turbulent to say the least, his younger brother knew as well as any of his siblings that Raziel kept his promises.

They sat down on opposite sides of the pit. Eying the sword, Raziel wondered if it would come down. He didn't know how it would be of any help. Perhaps later he would think of something.

"What do you suppose he found in that oracle's cave?" Turel asked conversationally.

"I don't know." Bitter, he grumbled, "Nothing good I'd imagine. I've never seen him this temperamental before."

"Ill omens?"

"For our sakes, I hope not." Frowning, he turned to his brother. "You don't think it has anything to do with us..."

"Maybe it does. What could we do about it? If Kain can't change his destiny, we have no hope of changing our's. I just want to get out of this pit."

"For once, we agree."

"Maybe he'll let us out for good behavior." Turel looked at him. Misbehaving was what got them here in the first place. Anyway, it sounded better than killing each other.

"I will if you will."

"No more wise-ass remarks."

Raziel nodded. "You, too."

Turel chuckled in his deep voice. "Sometimes I forget you're more vicious than you look. After we get out of here, I want a re-match."

"You'll get one," he sighed, closing his eyes. Maybe now he could have some silence.

* * *

**AN:** Since I've had a lot of questions about Kain's actions from people in the RLt, here's an explanation. When Kain goes to the Oracle's Cave he learns about Raziel's destiny. Raziel is going to be executed by Kain a thousand years from now (something Kain is be quite upset about since he does actually favor Raziel), come back as a wraith, murder his brothers, and finally kill Kain. Kain is understandably quite livid about this prophecy and is determined to prove fate wrong. He sees his first opportunity when Raziel and Turel are, as usual, fighting. It's a minor issue but he blows up over it and uses it as an excuse to toss them into the pit together, hoping that they'll kill each other so that the prophecy won't come true (parenting!). When this doesn't go as planned he tosses down a sword.


End file.
